


From the Past

by Silvex



Category: Rune Factory 4
Genre: Family Fluff, Gen, Moving On, Picnics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23179327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvex/pseuds/Silvex
Summary: On a picnic with her family, Luna sees a building she's never been to before...
Relationships: Dylas & Luna (Rune Factory), Dylas/Frey (Rune Factory)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 54





	From the Past

On a nice, bright day without a cloud in the sky, a family of four walks along a path beneath a cluster of giant mushrooms.

Luna holds on tightly to her little brother’s hand as they approach the bridge. She knows he won’t fall- seven years old is more than enough to understand the dangers- but it’s something she’s been doing for years now, and she doesn’t think she’ll stop anytime soon.

Mama leads the way, of course, because that’s just how things are. Papa is close behind her, talking to her about something. Luna isn’t listening too closely. Mama likes to fluster Papa by saying mushy things, and ten years old is definitely enough to suffer secondhand embarrassment.

A few Chipsqueeks poke their heads out at them when they reach the bridge's other side, before vanishing back into the brush. They all know better, by now, than to bother this family.

Even if they didn’t, Mama and Noel carry swords at their sides, and Luna holds a staff in her hands. Papa isn’t wearing his gloves, but to hear him say it, the monsters in the area have been terrified of him since well before Mama came to Selphia. Not that he ever says why. It’s just a thing that’s true.

The section of the plains they walk through now is a maze- every time a traveler turns around, it’s like the trees change places. It’s not an altogether unusual effect, it’s certainly not fully unpredictable, but it means that no two visits are quite the same.

Normally, they don’t stay here long- they only come this way when they intend on visiting Sercerezo Hill, for fishing, or sand fishing, or looking for crystal flower seeds so Mama can teach Noel how to make them grow. But they go off the path they’re supposed to take for that, and Luna can briefly see a massive stone shape before being directed back into the trees.

This isn’t the shortest distance they’ve ever gone for a picnic. Papa likes fishing by the waterfall in Yokmir Forest, and the Orcs, too, know better than to approach their family.

Still, Luna has never been to this pond before, and she stares at the shadows of the fish hiding under the water.

“It’s a fairy spring,” Mama says, and Luna finds herself instinctively reaching for her headdress. Four Seasons, Mama calls it, after the places where she obtained the parts for it. “Try not to drop anything in there. The Red who lives here won’t give it back.”

Noel nods at this, decisively, as if he were only just being told that it’s unwise to cross a fairy, instead of hearing it every other week or so from the sprites that work on Mama’s fields. But then, he’s always cared more for his plants than anything else.

Luna sort of gets it. Plants are nice, especially her fruit trees. But monsters are fun to play with, and she’s spent a long time listening to fairy stories, from the lips of the fairies themselves. Sometimes, her friend Maria joins in.

The fairies like Maria. Say she feels like something more than human. Luna gets a similar reaction, only more so because she’s also an Earthmate. Noel would probably get the same treatment, if not for their complaints that he’s too quiet.

In that regard, her brother sort of takes after Papa. He’s already retrieved his fishing pole- old, well-loved, but also with more attachments on it than Luna knows what to do with- because apparently he worked out a deal with the fairy at some point to be allowed to fish in her spring. Or maybe she’s as scared of him as everything else is. Not that Luna’s going to ask. That’s the sort of thing all the stories have warned her explicitly against.

* * *

  
  


The kinds of food Luna gets to eat tends to vary. If there’s been a good harvest, there’s a lot of good fruit and veggies. After the seasonal fishing contests, every meal is bound to have some amount of fish in it. If Grandpa Porco is babysitting, it’s a coin toss as to whether she’ll get to eat much at all.

Picnic lunches, however, are her favorite. It’s all fairly simple foods- Papa has sashimi, Mama sits down with a sandwich- but it varies between the four of them, all getting the chance to eat whatever they’d like most, so long as it doesn’t require an overly long amount of preparation. How Mama can make all of these things without needing equipment is something Luna will never understand, but she enjoys it either way.

“Mama?” She asks over her grilled squid, because it’s Mama who’s more likely to have an answer to her question. “What’s that building over there?” It’s hard to see it through the trees, but sometimes she can catch a glimpse of light gray stone.

Papa barely manages to avoid choking on his lover sashimi, while also dislodging his fishing pole from the rocks he left it on. He successfully grabs it back before it can be lost to the fairy of the spring, but it’s a close thing. Luna doesn’t notice.

“Oh, those are the Water Ruins,” Mama replies, shooting Papa a concerned glance. He silently reassures her that he’s okay. “It’s built around a Rune Spot.”

Luna’s heard of Rune Spots before. There’s one deep in the forest where Papa likes to fish, and another in that spooky mansion that nobody goes to because Pico’s enough ghostly activity for the whole town. There’s also one in that tower that she’s gone camping at with Maria’s family.

She doesn’t quite know what they’re for, but she knows they’re special for Venti and that the rocks inside shouldn’t be messed with. From what she’s heard, that’s all anyone needs to know.

They’re also filled with Runeys. She likes Runeys, how they float right over to her and nuzzle against her cheeks, how they like to mess up Noel’s hair, how they perch at the edge of Mama’s shoulders and float lazily inside Papa’s orbit.

As fun as Runeys are to play with, they probably aren’t worth disturbing the Rune Spot. But there’s a whole building there, one that Luna has never seen before. “...Can I go play now?”

“All right, but don’t go too far. Noel, do you want to go with her?” Her brother, of course, shakes his head while reaching for another rice ball.

“I’m still hungry.” And even once he’s done, Luna’s willing to bet he’ll just poke around the clearing, asking all sorts of questions about the plant life. Noel isn’t an adventurous spirit, with the singular exception of things that involve particularly interesting plants.

Still, she doesn’t need to take her brother with her. Even the most powerful monsters are wary of those who wield lightning as their weapon of choice.

“I’ll be careful,” She reassures her parents, star-topped staff in hand, before deciding that, before leaving, she really ought to hug them. “I love you!”

* * *

  
  


The ruins are, in fact, only a short run away from the spring. They look lonely, in Luna’s mind, worn down by the passage of time until only Venti can fully remember what it used to look like, assuming she ever went there. They stand on top of a lake, and it doesn’t take much looking to confirm that there are fish swimming around the stone supports.

It’s a very old place. Not as old as the tower, and supernatural influence means it’s impossible to tell how old it is in relation to the mansion, but it definitely feels older than most of the trees in the forest, the main exception being that one haunted apple tree that Luna’s heard has been around since Pico was alive. She doesn’t know if she should believe that part or not, Pico is a very old ghost, but it’s still a rumor that floats through the town whenever the tree gets mad and starts throwing apples at people.

Still, there’s one thing about these ruins that stands out, in contrast to the tower, the forest, and the mansion.

The ruins feel less alive. The forest, of course, is teeming with life. The tower is covered in moss, and there are dragons of every color nesting there, occasionally dipping below the clouds to Maria’s shrieks of delight. Even the mansion, as ghostly as it might be, has music playing in its halls, according to the people who have actually gone in there.

Compared to that, this structure is cold. Silent. There’s a history in these stones, and Luna is almost scared to disturb them. Almost.

But if there’s one thing she got from Mama, it’s her inability to leave well enough alone.

She takes one step onto the bridge leading into the building, and then another. A Goblin head peeks out from the door, but scurries away in fright at the first lightning bolt sent its way. Luna’s known Woolies that are less easily terrified.

The inside of the building is dark. There are more Goblins here, but they quickly flee before Luna can send more than two of them back to the Forest. Monsters are unnerved by human users of lightning magic- as far as Luna can tell, it’s just her family, except for Mama- but this utter terror is something she’s never seen before.

She doesn’t intend to go in very deeply. She was told not to go too far, and she knows not to disturb the Rune Spots. But there’s a large stone in the middle of the room, and she approaches it, unable to help herself.

The front side is written in a language that Luna doesn’t know. She thinks Maria’s father might know it, he seems to know everything, but that doesn’t matter so much when he’s nowhere near here.

She wanders around to the back of the stone. And stops. Because there, in handwriting that seems oddly familiar, are words that she can actually read.

_ To everyone in the town. _

_ I’m very moved to know how you all felt about me back then. To be honest, I didn’t think too highly of myself or the town at the time. _

_ But now I realize just how precious you all are. And how precious my own life is. Or maybe I shouldn’t think of myself that way. Maybe it’s vain, or egotistical. _

_ Oh, and please don’t blame the king for this. He felt the same way as you. _

_ Thank you, everyone. Farewell. _

“Luna?” Papa’s voice is enough for her to look away from the writing. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to explore, Papa. Don’t worry, the monsters are all scared of me.” Even if she still doesn’t know why.

Papa’s tail swishes, and his ears are pressed flat. “I-I’d be more worried about you stumbling into the Chimera den,” He tries to laugh, but Luna can tell his heart isn’t really in it. Still, he crouches down next to her, deliberately looking away from the letters. “Did you find anything?”

She nods, almost reaching out to touch the stone, but realizing that, with its age, she could easily wipe those words out of existence, and she doesn’t think anyone would be very happy if she ruined a Priceless Historical Artifact.

“I… think it’s some kind of letter,” She says. “It’s... really sad.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Still without looking at it, Papa reaches over to the stone, blue sparks appearing on his fingers. He runs his hand across it, and the letters melt, until there’s just a series of scratches on rock that don’t mean anything. “...Don’t worry. There’s a happy ending.”

“...Are you sure?” With how old that message was… how could anyone know for sure?

Papa just smiles, and kisses her forehead, and takes her hand, ready to lead her back to where Mama and Noel are waiting for them.

“Yeah. Trust me.”

**Author's Note:**

> A casual reminder that yes, this message is a thing. You just have to go around and look at the back of the stone. Unless you have Dylas in your party, in which case he won't let you read it for obvious reasons.


End file.
